Jana POV:

They didn't take me to a normal hospital room. They took me to the Pack Meeting Hall.

It was a vast room with high ceilings and banners of the Silver Moon Pack hanging from the walls. But now, it was set up like a studio. Cameras were set up on tripods. Bright lights blinded me.

Kyleigh sat in a wheelchair in the center of the room. She was wearing a pale blue hospital gown that made her look fragile and angelic. Her face was perfectly made up to look pale but beautiful.

"Put her there," Kyleigh said, pointing to the floor beside her wheelchair.

The guards threw me down. I hit the polished wood hard. My hip slammed against the floor, and I bit my tongue to keep from screaming.

"What is this?" I asked, looking around.

"A confession," Kyleigh said. She smiled, but her eyes were dead cold. "The pack needs to know the truth about the sabotage. We are going live in one minute."

Axel stood behind Kyleigh's chair, his hand resting protectively on her shoulder. He looked like a statue of judgment.

"You will admit to your crimes," Axel said. "You will tell the pack that you tried to ruin the Defense Wall because you were jealous of the future Luna."

"I won't lie," I said, my voice trembling.

Axel leaned down. His lips brushed my ear, but there was no intimacy in it. "If you don't, I will declare you a Rogue right now. I will banish you. You will die alone in the woods, hunted by vampires and strays. Is that how you want to end? Or do you want to save your sister and at least die with a name?"

It was a cruel bargain. To die as a Rogue meant my soul would be lost forever, unconnected to the pack lands. To die as a pack member meant I could find peace with the Moon Goddess.

"One minute!" a tech guy shouted.

"Kneel," Axel commanded. The Alpha Voice slammed into me again.

I scrambled to my knees. I felt small. I felt dirty.

"Action!"

Kyleigh's face instantly transformed. She looked into the camera with tears welling in her eyes.

"My dear pack members," she said, her voice trembling perfectly. "I come to you with a heavy heart. Today, we found a flaw in the new wall designs. A flaw that could have killed us."

She looked down at me. The camera zoomed in on my face. I knew I looked like a monster-messy hair, dirty clothes, sullen eyes.

"My sister, Jana," Kyleigh continued, "has something to say."

Axel nudged me with his boot. A silent threat.

I looked into the black lens of the camera. I saw my reflection. I saw a girl who had lost everything.

"I..." My voice cracked. "I admit it."

"Louder," Axel growled.

"I admit it!" I shouted, tears finally spilling over. "I changed the numbers. I wanted to ruin the design. I was jealous. I am... I am a fake."

I could see the comments scrolling on the screen set up to the side.

'Traitor!'

'She should be executed!'

'Why does the Alpha even keep her around?'

'Waste of space.'

Every word was a knife.

"Thank you for your honesty, sister," Kyleigh said. She reached out and patted my head, like one would pet a dog. "I forgive you. The pack forgives you. And now, you will do the right thing and help me heal, won't you?"

"Yes," I whispered.

'Suddenly, Kyleigh gasped. Her hand flew to her chest, her back arching off the wheelchair.'

'"Axel!" she screamed, blood spraying from her mouth onto the polished floor. "It burns! My core... it's breaking!"

'The monitors hooked up to her portable unit began to wail. Her skin turned a terrifying shade of gray instantly.'

'"Cut the feed!" Axel roared, catching her as she slumped forward.'

'"She's crashing!" a medic shouted, rushing in. "Her Essence levels are zero. If we don't operate now, she's gone in ten minutes!"

'Kyleigh looked at me, her eyes wide with genuine terror for the first time. "Take it," she gurgled, pointing a shaking finger at me. "Take her kidney now!"

'Axel turned to the guards. His eyes were pure panic.'

'"Get Jana to the OR," he bellowed. "Forget the prep. Forget the scans. Just cut her open and get that organ!"

'I closed my eyes. Deep inside me, I felt a shift. It wasn't physical. It was spiritual.'

My inner wolf, the white wolf that had been suppressed for so long, let out a long, mournful howl. It was a sound of absolute despair.

And then, silence.

She was gone. My wolf had retreated into the deepest darkness of my soul. She had severed her connection to the world to spare herself the pain.

I was truly Wolfless now.

"Take her!" Axel screamed again.

The guards hauled me up. I was a ragdoll. I didn't look at Axel. I didn't look at my parents. I just stared at the floor, counting the steps to my execution.

Jana POV:

The operating room was cold. It smelled of antiseptic and steel. It was a smell that promised nothing but oblivion.

I lay on the narrow table. They had stripped me of my clothes and covered me with a thin blue sheet. Above me, the surgical lights were like giant, unblinking eyes.

"Heart rate is erratic," a nurse said, looking at the monitor.

Dr. Hermine Sanchez walked in. She was the Pack Healer, a woman known for her stern face and 'Magical Sight'. She could see illnesses that machines missed. 'But today, she looked flustered, dragged in from her home on a Sunday.'

'"Where are the pre-op scans?" Dr. Sanchez demanded, snapping on her gloves. "I haven't seen the donor's chart. I need to check her aura compatibility."

'"There's no time!" Axel burst into the room. He was wearing a surgical gown over his suit, disregarding protocol. "Kyleigh's heart stopped twice in the hallway. Her personal physician sent over the files yesterday-they said Jana is a perfect match. Two healthy kidneys. Just do it!"

'Dr. Sanchez hesitated, her eyes narrowing as she looked at me. "She looks septic, Alpha. Look at her skin color. I need five minutes to-"

'"You don't have five seconds!" Axel slammed his hand on the metal tray. "That is an order, Healer Sanchez. Save your Luna, or get out of my pack!"

'Dr. Sanchez clenched her jaw. She was bound by the Alpha's order. She couldn't refuse, and she couldn't delay.'

'"Fine," she spat. "Anesthesia?"

'"Administered," the nurse said nervously. "But... she's burning through it. Her metabolism is spiking."

'Dr. Sanchez looked at me with pity. She didn't see the poison yet-the adrenaline and the chaotic energy in the room were masking my aura. She just saw a dying girl.'

"Jana," she said softly. "We have to use silver scalpels. It's the only thing that cuts wolf skin. Because of your... 'resistance'... the anesthesia won't work fully. 'We can't wait for it to take effect.'"

"I know," I whispered. "I will feel it."

"I'm sorry," she said. And she meant it.

Axel walked up to the table. He looked down at me. For a second, his hand hovered over my hand, as if he wanted to hold it. But then he pulled back, clenching his fist.

"I deposited two million dollars into an account for you," he said. His voice was stiff. "When you wake up, you can go anywhere. Paris. Tokyo. You always wanted to travel."

I looked at him. He remembered. He remembered that silly dream I told him when we were teenagers, sitting on the roof watching the stars.

"You can't buy a life, Axel," I said. My voice was calm now. The fear was gone. Only exhaustion remained.

"It's not payment," he snapped. "It's... care."

"Care," I repeated. I let out a dry, rattling laugh. "Goodbye, Axel."

He flinched. "It's not goodbye. You're just giving a kidney. Stop being dramatic."

He turned his back on me. He walked to the observation window where Kyleigh was being prepped in the next room. He put his hand on the glass, looking at her with longing.

"Start," he ordered.

Dr. Sanchez sighed. She picked up the scalpel. The blade was made of pure silver. Even the sight of it made my skin crawl.

"Count backward from ten, Jana," she said.

"Ten," I said.

The blade touched my skin.

It wasn't just a cut. It was fire. It was liquid lightning pouring into my body. The silver reacted with my wolf blood, searing the edges of the wound instantly.

"Nine."

I gritted my teeth. I would not scream. I would not give them the satisfaction.

"Eight."

The pain dug deeper. They were cutting through muscle now. I felt the retractors pulling my ribs apart. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes, hot and fast.

"Seven."

My heart monitor began to beep faster. 'Beep-beep-beep-beep.'

"Six."

I looked at the ceiling. I imagined the moon. I imagined running through a forest of snow, free, strong, loved.

"Five."

The pressure changed. They were clamping the artery. My breath hitched.

"Four."

The darkness was creeping in at the edges of my vision. It was a soft, welcoming velvet darkness.

"Three."

I saw a flash of white light. A wolf. A magnificent white wolf stood at the foot of the table. She looked at me and bowed her head.

'Come,' she seemed to say. 'It is time to rest.'

"Two."

The monitor changed its tone. The frantic beeping slowed down.

"One."

I didn't say zero.

The pain stopped. The cold stopped. The sound of Axel's voice shouting something in the distance faded away.

The line on the monitor went flat. A long, continuous tone filled the room.

I closed my eyes, and I let go.

Jana POV:

The cold of the operating table seeped through the thin gown, a deep, invasive chill that felt like it was settling in my bones. I was floating, detached, watching the scene from somewhere above my own body. The bright, sterile lights of the operating room were a distant sun.

Dr. Sanchez stood over me, his face a mask of concentration beneath his surgical cap. The scalpel in his hand gleamed. I felt no fear, only a profound weariness. He made the first incision, a clean, red line blooming across my abdomen. It didn't hurt. Nothing hurt anymore.

The monitors beside the table kept a steady, rhythmic beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. The sound of a life that was no longer mine.

"Doctor," a young nurse's voice was a nervous whisper. "Her pressure is dropping faster than anticipated."

"It's the anesthesia," Dr. Sanchez snapped, his voice tight with a stress I could feel even from my detached state. The Alpha's orders weighed on him. "Monitor it. Do your job."

The beeping of the monitor hitched, a single, sharp alarm that cut through the room's tension. My heart, the one still beating in the body below, had faltered.

From a speaker on the wall, Axel's voice crackled, distorted and impatient. "What was that? Sanchez, report."

I could see him in my mind's eye, pacing behind the observation glass like a caged predator.

"A minor reaction to the anesthetic, Alpha," Dr. Sanchez lied, his hands never ceasing their work. "It's under control."

He pushed aside layers of tissue, his gloved fingers probing deep into the cavity. Then he stopped. His brow furrowed above his mask. I saw the subtle shift in his posture, the sudden stillness of his hands. He felt it. The wrongness.

He was expecting to find a healthy, firm kidney. Instead, his fingers met only empty space and the rough, scarred texture of old connective tissue. A ghost of an organ.

A single bead of sweat broke free from his hairline and traced a path down his temple. He didn't believe it. He repositioned his hands, exploring from a different angle, his movements becoming more frantic, less precise. The result was the same. Nothing.

His fingers brushed against the internal wall, tracing the unmistakable line of a surgical scar, old and long-healed from the inside. A wound no one had ever seen.

And in that moment of his shocked stillness, the world stopped.

The rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor was replaced by a single, piercing, unbroken tone. A flatline.

Chaos erupted.

"She's in V-fib! Get the paddles!"

"Push one of epi!"

The speaker crackled to life again, Axel's voice no longer a command, but a roar. "SANCHEZ! WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?"

They pushed down on my chest, the rhythmic thud of their compressions a brutal, useless drumbeat. They shocked my body, making it arch violently off the table, but the long, damning note of the monitor never changed.

"We're losing her," the senior nurse said, her voice trembling with disbelief. "Doctor, it's not working… The pre-op report said she was in perfect health!"

The words "perfect health" seemed to break something in Dr. Sanchez. His head snapped up, his eyes wide with a horrifying realization. He looked from my lifeless body to the monitor, then back again. The perfect report, provided by the Alpha himself. The empty space where a kidney should be. The old scar.

The lie pieced itself together in his eyes.

He knew.

He stumbled back from the table, ignoring the frantic efforts of his team. He was a healer, a man sworn to preserve life, and he had just been made an executioner.

He ripped his mask from his face and staggered toward the intercom on the wall, his movements jerky, uncoordinated.

"Answer me!" Axel's voice boomed from the speaker, laced with a fury that promised death. "What is her status? Kyleigh is waiting for that kidney!"

Dr. Sanchez slammed his palm against the talk button, his whole body shaking. He closed his eyes, took a deep, ragged breath that sounded like a sob, and screamed a truth that would shatter their world.

"She doesn't have a right kidney, you fool!" he howled, his voice raw with grief and rage. "She only has one!"